He dug for survivors till his hands bled

Rescue workers from the Civil Defence, police, fire service and army at the site of the collapsed Hotel New World on 19 March, 1986.

PHOTO: The Straits Times

Exactly 31 years ago on this day, Mr David Yeo was resting in his Kitchener Road home at 11.25am when he heard what he thought was a bomb going off.

He ran to his balcony to see a big cloud of dust where Hotel New World stood. Then he realised: The building was gone.

Mr Yeo, then a newly married 32-year-old production supervisor, told The New Paper: "I rushed down in my singlet and slippers. Police stopped me from entering the site, but after I showed them my Red Cross (identification), they let me in to help with rescue operations."

The Hotel New World disaster claimed 33 lives.

The six-storey building was reduced to rubble in less than a minute.

Located at the junction of Serangoon Road and Owen Road, it had housed a 67-room hotel, a branch office of the Industrial & Commercial Bank and a basement carpark.